100 Stranded "S.O.S." Galveston Residents: Three Bodies Found

Long before it was to come ashore, Hurricane Ike caused flooding all along the coast. It shut down oil refineries, endangered a freighter at sea and destroyed a pier in Galveston.

Emergency officials said that there were sporadic house fires throughout Galveston, mostly traced to transformers. The 61st Street pier was washed away, and several buildings lining the seawall had partly collapsed.

Galveston was mostly without power Friday night. Most of the buildings in downtown were flooded, as was the western part of the island. About five blocks inland from the seawall, streets were so submerged by 9 p.m. that the water had reached stop signs. Firefighters picked up more than 300 people who were wading through the streets after being forced from their homes.

One hurricane expert, Jeff Masters, warned that the storm “stands poised to become one of the most damaging hurricanes of all time” because of its vast size.

Officials said they were particularly worried about people in coastal towns who ignored evacuation orders. On the Bolivar Peninsula, a spit of land on the east side of Houston at the mouth of Galveston Bay, the sudden rush of seawater caught at least 200 people off guard, covering the only road. The Coast Guard rescued 96 people with helicopters but had to leave 100 behind after winds grew too strong to fly, the Coast Guard said.

Dr. Masters, who runs the Weather Underground Web site, said Hurricane Ike could end up being much larger and more powerful than Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans in 2005. He also predicted that it would cause “the largest and longest-lived power outage in Texas history.”